Tuesday, April 28, 2009

News From The Pumps!

William "Whiz" Miller just named Public Safety Director.

Stay tuned for more!

32 comments:

MPO Sore Feet said...

I sure hope this rumor is true.

This department really needs a shot in the arm. We've been walking aimlessly in the desert for what seems like forever. Our past leaders have offered us nothing but "false hopes and false gods."

Herman Caine remarked last night on his radio show that in times trial and tribulation, a leader must rise to the top and lead his people out of the desert. We need our Moses.

The walk continues.....I'm not sure at this point in time if we are walking towards a new life or an eternity in purgatory.

May the Lord send His blessings and watch over us. Lord knows we need it.

TOLEDO said...

Good choice. I wish him well and hope that we can all move forward with our new leadership.

Anonymous said...

Great selection. Very intellectual and fair. It is my belief he will do this department justice. Now the only thing lacking is for Chief O'Brien to be permanently named Chief.

Andy Norris said...

I can't remember him. I worked there from 1987-1996. His name sounds familiar......Can someone refresh my memory?

Anonymous said...

I wouldn't exactly call this a great pick. No doubt, he may be a great guy, hard worker, true leader, etc., however he had experience only within the police department, and a law degree. Therefore he has no true field knowledge in the areas of Fire and EMS and limited knowledge in whatever all the MEs office does.

Take it how you will but this position is a waste of money. Just how he "found" the money to fund these positions he needs to "find" the funds to get our Merit increases reinstated, "find" the funds to get tasers, "find" the funds for new vehicles (police cars, heavy rescue, new ambulances), etc.

He should also definitely find the funds to hire a qaulified, experienced, and reputable executive search company to seek out a worth-a-damn police command staff and Fire Chief.

Until each leader sits down with first themselves and really think about the massive state of the county and the issues facing us now and ahead...and then in decency, unity, and order come together one by one work out the issues this county will continue to dig itself in a trench that will make us an infamous goverment operation. We are on a path of destruction that started with the previous administration and is continuing of with only few and slow signs of improvement.

Just my 00.02...I won't keep rambling

Anonymous said...

Well I just be damned...just when it looked as if we might start to move in the right direction we go and take 5 steps backwards. It's amazing that every last large municipal police dept in this country has realized the total waste of time that this Public Saftey Director's position is with the exception of DKPD....better yet DeKalb County Gov't. Only in DeKalb do you find this stupidity.

When in the hell are we going to become a progressive place to work and move forward rather than backwards. This is ludicrous, what is happening, is it just me...why do we need yet another large gov't position to duplicate a job that's already being done. At what point will the citizens of Dekalb County call on these elected officials to stop wasting tax payer money on job duplication....CHA CHing $$$$$$...hey it's just a thing...

Anyone in the county gov't ever heard of "SIMPLICITY".....oh by the way, no merit increases this year, but we're going to create this new position with all the staff to support it.....$$$$$$$$$

Way to go Decatur!!!! Hey you know what they say, Democrats love to spend money and create meaningless jobs..........

Oh and by the way, this is in no way taking a shot at "Wiz" Miller. He is a very competent individual and perfectly capable of doing the job.....it's just a job that doesn't need to be filled.....

Anonymous said...

William Z. Miller is an excellent choice for this position! He is very smart and he has a track record of standing up for his officers. I commend the CEO for appointing a, “DeKalb County Man” instead of an outsider. I have had enough of outsiders and I am glad to have someone who knows us. Now if Bill O’Brien is named the next chief I believe these two can be an effective team to lead this department and county back to respectability. It will take time and a lot of hard work.

What this department needs more than anything else is LEADERSHIP! Everything else will come in time but without leadership, nothing can be accomplished. I am extremely clear on the type of leadership that the Bolton appointees can provide. I have had a front row seat to that spectacle the last couple of years and I am not impressed. Every single one of them should be demoted and the department should start over.

When it comes to appointing the next majors and chiefs the new Public Safety Director and the new Police Chief should only focus on a few things. What is best for the police department? Is this person a leader? Does this person have integrity? Does this person really understand police work? It is really not that complicated. I do not give a damn if the person is your friend or not your friend. I do not care if the person is black, white or brown. I do not care what people think they deserve because of how long they have been here. I do not care if the person is a captain or a lieutenant. I do not care about some B.S. degree a person received online. And I do not care if the person is a man or a woman.

It is the POLICE DEPARTMENT as a whole that matters, not the individual.

Anonymous said...

Apparently some of you did not read the Transition commitee report. Well, I did. They uncovered numerous problems, not just at PD but in Fire/EMS and at the ME's office. Some problems were borderline criminal acts (Investigators planting evidence at a scene to make an officer look better at an officer involved shooting). Do you really think that CEO Ellis has the time to oversee those 3 very critical departments? The answer is HE DOES NOT. Therefore, he reopened a very useful position, and appointed a very intelligent, capable and wise (Wiz) man to be the Director of Public Safety. Haters, please realize that this is a much needed position, regardless of the money. If we had still had a Director of PS when Graham and Bolton arrived, there would have been a lot less Kool aid appointments and leadership by intimidation. Give Wiz a chance, I promise you all that he will prove his, and the position's, worth within 6 months.

Anonymous said...

Who is the idiot complaining Wiz doesn't have any experience managing a fire department?? Duh!!! Show me someone who has was top brass in a police department AND in a fire department. It doesn't happen. Think before you post!

Anonymous said...

Yes Anonymous "IT IS JUST YOU"

Anonymous said...

Where's John Pearson?

Slamin Ethel said...

Sure wish I had won the Mega Millions.
Then I wouldnt wonder where my pay raise just went, now I know.
Rock on Chief O'Brien!

Anonymous said...

I don't care how competent Wiz is the bottom line is he is a good ole boy and he will not waste any time promoting his useless incompetent buddies from the old Narcotics days. This position is just a waste of time and money for everyone. We need a good honest hardworking cop to be our leader as for the fire/ems and MEs that is their problem and not ours we carry enough weight of the county as it is. Foster could have been ran out of the fire dept. years ago but we all know he kept his job due to his ability to kiss ole Vern's ass so good. As for the ME then if what they did was criminal then it is Gwen Keyes fault no ours......she don't do her job and we suffer...........DKPD always suffers.............

Anonymous said...

Is Pearson coming back also?

Anonymous said...

I heard he is 76 to the department. I heard he is brash and hard but he is fair. I see cronyism already with the good ole boys network.let's just have a level playing field

Anonymous said...

A smart ass white boy says give Wiz a chance

Anonymous said...

Wiz,obrien and Pearson

Anonymous said...

Wait a minute before you talk about wiz hooking up his ole buddies. He was never a good ole boy.you got the current upper management hooking up their buddies already.promising them positions before the notice even comes out. Don't start. Yall been doing this way before Vernon.

micheal steele said...

Yep he is right. You guys need to cut it out already. As soon as tebo left yall started hooking each other up again.if you are going to do that,don't brag before it happens.
No interview process or specialize position notices. That is not policy.

simon labloc said...

Politics,politics, politics. We need better benefits,
Equal pay and support from the commissioners. Do you really think people would want to invest
,learn,live or play in a high crime county.wake up BOC and CEO. We have an oppurtunity to get back what we had years ago. Safer communities,better schools,and a great police department. We have to think outside of the box. Let's stop hating on each other, stop whinning and make a differance. Go O'brien Go, Rock on Wiz rock on

Anonymous said...

East precinct Captain packing up his stuff and moving on up to west exchange... Let the hook ups begin . It's Miller time. Why wasn't O'Brien able to put a command staff in place? The more things change the more they stay the same.

Anonymous said...

So are you saying Dale Holmes, that's his buddy for a long time. I hope we do not end up with friends promoted to these positions. I would like to see someone qualified get the rank. I'm just WISHING AND HOPING AND YOU KNOW THE SONG......

Anonymous said...

Lets wait and see if he makes his friends or people who can perform the job.

I'm hoping he will let the Chief choose his Command Staff.

Anonymous said...

Since he hasn't officially started, I highly doubt he is already transferring people, so I'll chalk this story about someone moving their office as a rumor or an unrelated coincidence.

Anonymous said...

I don't disagree that Wiz Miller is a good choice but does no one care that the money was "FOUND" savings from PD??? The CEO could have taken the money out of his budget but he's taken it from a department that is understaffed, under armed and waits an hour at shift change for a car. Get your priorities in order Mr. CEO. It's politics over policing in DKC

Anonymous said...

I am not a Police Officer or for that matter a county employee. I have been coming to this site for the last month as a interested citizen who is concern about my county. I voted for Mr. Ellis because I believed he has the best interest of the county at heart. I read some of you talk about the good ole boy system for a while now and assume take that to mean many people are being promoted because of their career relationships with others in the department.

At the risk of being blasted by the hard core boggers I don't know whats wrong with surrounding yourself with people you are comfortable with carrying out your vision. I can tell you as long as the job get done thats all I care about as I write my $3,200 tax bill. It sounds like to me some of you have been here a long time and have not progress up at the pace that you believe you should have and so your comfort zone is to be negitive about the future or you are just one of those water cooler talker always complaing about how bad things are and can't get anyone to listen to your opinion.

We really appreciate everything you do to keep us safe and I do believe you deserve all the money we can afford to give you. But I question just how committed some of you are to really doing what needs to be done as a law enforcement officers when things are not going your way.

Giving the option of having someone I trust covering my back or someone I don't know but have the same skill set, well thats an easy pick for me.

Let me suggest you look in the mirrow and ask yourself what is the real reason for your dislike in how America's political leaders select their appointees and the appointee's staff.

Which country do you believe do a better job?

Be safe out there again we do appeciate your work!

Anonymous said...

No offense Anon citizen..but since you don't work here, you really have NO IDEA what has been going on. If you read this blog faithfully, you will have a better idea, but you really have to see it to believe it. Not only did Bolton surround himself with people he was "comfortable with", as you call it, he surrounded himself with people who ruled by intimidation, a civilian who directly supervised police officers (previously unheard of in any police dept) and also was extremely nasty to those officers, and megolomaniacal folks who used their new positions to promote their doo-boys and get brand new suburbans, equpiment, etc. All at a huge cost to the poor patrol officer and the poor guy who refused to dance to their tune, which often involved illegal, immoral and unethical acts. Trust me Anon, read more on this blog. Since you are a citizen, i forgive you. But become more educated if you are going to post here, please.

Anonymous said...

Well said, trust me when I say if you are qualified and honest for any position with law enforcement, a leader will not have to worry about trusting the people he/she surrounds themself with. Everyone needs to grow up and smell the coffee. Honesty is the best policy in Law Enforcement. Jesus Christ, it makes me mad knowing this is such a difficult concept.

Anonymous said...

Honesty and law enforcement. Once lost, it is gone. You honor and word have been lost.

Once found to have been untruthful, you're done as an officer. A good defense attorney will hammer you on the stand and you are of no use to the State's case.

Sad....we have so many in uniform who have been found untruthful.

Anonymous said...

what is sad is that comment. No faith in law enforcement. Trust me, outside Dekalb County Law Enforcement is not lost. It will take a true leader and officers below him/her to regain the trust of citizens and officers to believe we serve a needed place in life. Stay positive, good is better then evil.

Anonymous said...

To Anon Citizen. We appreciate your concerns as a citizen - but, when your not on the inside, its easier to say those things..
As far as looking in the mirror every morning - an example:
I bet TeBo (Bolton) got up every morning, looked in the mirror and said, "I am King, Ruler, Almighty.....(briefly stops to yell...Hey Keisha...you got that Escalade warmed up yet? No? Oh ok, you wanna use the sirens today - you go gurlfriend....and um hey, any of my 82 uniforms ironed this morning)....okay, where was I, oh yeah, Mastermind, Invincible,

I got up every morning looked in the mirror and went:
Keep your mouth shut, family to feed, homeless, low in rank, walk the plank and OMG, what a drab, ugly color for a uniform shirt.

Now, I get up every morning look in the mirror and go, "there's hope, things are looking up, we are coming together and OMG, what a drab ugly color for a uniform shirt.

Anonymous said...

Sounds to me like there is mixed emotions on Whiz Miller becoming Public Safety Director.

1. Its either "Finally, its Miller Time"; or
2. I think I'm gonna go out back and take a Whiz.

Right now, I'm undecided and can only say, "Whi Mi" (why me)